Chime mechanism



March 25 1924.

w. H. DURFEE cums MECHANISM Filed Feb. 11, 1921 Q a nvenor.

Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

WALTER H. DURFEE, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

' CHIME MECHANISM.

Application filed February 11, 1921. Serial No. 444,158.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER H. DURFEE, a citizen of the United-States, residing in Providence, county of Providence, and State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improve ment in Chime Mechanism, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representin% like parts.

his invention relates to a chimin mechanism of that character in which a p urality ofmetal tubes are designed to be struck by a plurality of hammers, which are automatically operated by an actuator, usually consisting of a plurality of pivoted levers or members which are joined by a flexible connection to said hammers, and with which co-operates a revolving cylinder provided with pins, which actuate the levers to cause the hammers to strike the metal tubes.

In apparatus of'the character described as now commonly made and'known to me,

the hammers are generally joined to their.

actuating levers by cords, strings or like stretchable fibrous material, which require adjustment on the'job, and experience has demonstrated, that such connectors are difficult to attach and adjust on the job and especially to hammers made of spring steel,

so as to obtain the proper len th of con-' nector to ensure each hammer eing positioned with relation to its metal tube to properly function and strike the tube a single firm blow without repeating, and also such connectors are subject to climatic changes and are liable to stretch and contract with consequent derangement or imperfection in the operation of the chimes.

The present invention has for'its object to overcome the above mentioned defects and to provide apparatus which can be accurately adjusted in the factory by skilled workmen and set up at the job by unskilled labor without disturbing the adjustment of said apparatus. 7

To this end, I employ a flexible metallic connector, preferably in the form of a link chain, whose links are substantially small and made of relatively fine wire, and provide the spring steel or other metal hammer with an opening of sufficient size to permit of the passage throughit of the link chain, which opening has extended from it a slot of less width than said opening and of a width substantially equal to the thickness of the metal, from which the links of the chain are made, so that, the links of the chain may readil enter the slot when presented thereto with one dimension of the link in alignment with said slot, but which cannot enter or pass through the slot when the other dimension of the link is presented to said slot.

Provision may and preferably will be made for locking the link chain to the hammer in its adjusted position, as will be described.

These and other features of this invention will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a chiming mechanism embodying this invention.

Fig. 2, a front elevation showing two hammers and their support.

Fig. 3, an enlarged. detail of the lever shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4, an enlarged detail of a portion of one of the hammers.

Fig. 5, a similar View showing the chain locked to the hammer.

Fig. 6, a section on the line 66, Fig. 5, and Fig. 7, a plan View to illustrate the manner of supporting the hammer actuating levers.

Referring to the drawing, 10 represents a tubular bell, with which co-operate's the head 12 of a hammer 18, preferably made as a strip or piece of spring steel, which is secured at one end to a suitable support, represented as two cross bars or pieces 14, 15, between which the lower end of the hammer 13 is clamped as by screws 16, only one of which is shown.

The hammer 13 is connected by a metalli connector to the upper end of a lever 17 pivoted at 18 to a suitable support which may be such as now commonly used in chiming mechanism, and said lever is turned on its pivot in one direction to draw back the hammer by pins 20 on a cylinder 21, which is rotated by clock mechanism (not shown) and controlled by suitable mechanism (not shown) but such as common to chiming mechanism now in use.

The support for the levers 17 is usually made as a bar 19 provided with slots 190 (see Fig. 7), in which the levers 17 are mounted on the pivot rod 18, which extends lengthwise of the bar 19 and across the slots 190. The lower ends of the levers 19 are provided with an enlarged portion 191, which is made thin and flat and is provided with a substantially straight inner surface 192 and a curved outer surface 193. The enlarged portion 191 is arranged in the slot 190 with its substantially straight inner face 192 in close proximity to and substan tially parallel with the inner wall 19% of the slot 190 in the normal position of th lever 17 shown in Fig. 1 by full lines.

In accordance with this invention, the metallic connector referred to is made as a link chain 22, whose links are small or fine and made of a relatively small wire, and one end of said link chain is fastened to the lever 17, and its other end connected with the hammer 13.

In the present instance the lever 17 is provided at its upper end with two jaws 23 having semicircular recesses 21, which cooperate to form a circular opening 25, in which is confined a ring 26 when the jaws 23 are closed by a set screw 27 or other suitable device. The ring 26 is attached to the chain, and the latter has its free end connected with the hammer 13, for which purpose, the latter is provided with a hole or opening 30 of a diameter or size sutliciently large to permit the chain to be readily and freely passed through it.

The hammer 13 also provided with an elongated opening or slot 51, which extends from the opening or hole 30 and is of less width than the wider dimension of the links of the chain 22, but is of suflicient width to permit the link to enter therein when the narrower dimension of said link is presented thereto in alignment therewith, as clearly represented in Figs. 5 and 6.

By reference to Figs. 5, it will be ob served that the link marked 32 is located in the slot 31 and ti at the links connected with the link 32 and marked 33, 31, are located on opposite sides of the hammer 13 and have their wider dimension presented to the slot 31, so that the links 33, 3a, cannot pass through said slot, and as a result, the chain or flexible connection 22 is connected with the hammer 13 in such manner as to provide a taut length of chain between the lever 17 and the said hammer, as shown in Fig. 1, and by tests conducted in the factory, the chain can be connected with the hammer so as to ensure a single blow of the hammer upon the bell or tube 10, thereby avoiding a second stroke of the bell by the rebound of the hammer, as would occur if the chain is too slack, and also avoiding failure of the hammer to strike the bell if the chain is too taut.

hen the chain has been properly adjusted and connected with the hammer in the factor by a skilled operator, the chain may be locked to the hammer in its adjusted position, and in the present instance, the resalt is accomplished by a locking device consisting of a disk 40 rotatably mounted on a shaft or pin 11 extended through a hole 42 in the hammer.

The disk 10 is made of suitable size to enable it to cover a portion of the slot 31 and prevent the link 32 therein from being able to pass into the opening 30. The disk 40 is provided with a notch or recess ad, which is made of sutlicient length to uncover the opening 30 when the notch is brought into alignment with the slot 31, thereby enabling the link 32 in the slot 31 to be withdrawn from said slot and moved into the opening 30 through which the chain is capable of being moved freely.

It will be observed that after the chain has been properly adjusted to the hammer by the skilled operator in the factory and locked in its adjusted position, it remains attached to the hammer, and is disconnected from the lever 17, so that when the app-a atus is assembled on the job, it is only necessary to connect the chain to the lever 17, which can be done by unskilled labor.

It is preferred to use a chain commonly designated as a line chain, in which the links are short, so as to be able to make relatively tine adjustments when required, and while it is preferred to make the flexible non-stretchable connection as a link chain, it is not desired to limit the invention in this respect.

In operation, each pin 20 on the cylinder 21 engages the curved outer surface 198 of a lever 17, as the cylinder 21 revolves in the direction indicated by the arrow thereon in Fig. 1, and turns said lever into its dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, thereby drawing back the upper end of the hammer connected to said lever by the chain 22.

As soon as the pin 20 passes out of engagement with the lever 17, the spring in the hammer imparted to it by moving the lever 17 into its dotted line position, moves the hammer forward and causes its head 12 to strike the bell 10.

At or about the time the hammer strikes the bell, the inner surface of the enlarged portion 191 of the lever 17 engages the inner wall 191 of the slot 190 and arrests the forward movement of the lever 17 and the hammer, thereby diminishing the spring action of the hammer to such extent as to prevent a rebound of such magnitude as to repeat the blow.

Claims.

1. In a chiming mechanism, in combination, a hammer of spring metal provided with a hole or opening and with a slot of narrower width communicating with said hole or opening, an actuator for said hammer, and a link chain connecting said actuator with said hammer and having links capable of passing freely through said hole or opening and having one dimension capable of entering said slot and another dimension incapable of passing through said slot.

2. In a chiming mechanism, in combination, a hammer of spring metal rovided with a hole or opening and with a slot of narrower width communicating with said hole or opening, an actuator for said hammer, alink chain connecting said actuator with said hammer and having links capable of passing freely through said hole or opening and having one dimension capable of entering said slot and another dimension incapable of passing through said slot, and means for locking the link in said slot against movement out therefrom into said opening.

3. In a chiming. mechanism, in combination, a hammer of spring metal provided with a hole or opening and with a slot of narrower width communicating with said hole or opening, an actuator for said hammer, a link chain connecting said actuator with said hammer and having links capable of passing freely through said hole or open ing and having one dimension capable of entering said slot and another dimension incapable of passing through said slot, a disk rotatably mounted on said hammer and capable of being turned to close the open end of said slot and provided with a notch to register with said slot to permit of the passage of the link therein from said slot into said opening.

4:. In a chiming mechanism, in combination, a hammer of spring metal provided with a hole or opening and with a slot of narrower width communicating with said hole or opening, an actuator for said hammer, and a non-stretchable connector between said actuator and said hammer and capable of passing freely through said hole or opening and incapable of passing freely through said slot and having a. portion which is capable of entering said slot from said opening.

5. In a chiming mechanism, in combination, a hammer of spring metal provided with a hole or opening and with a. slot of narrower width communicating with said hole or opening, an actuator for said hammer, a non-stretchable connector between said actuator and said hammer and capable of passing freely through said hole or opening and incapable of passing freely through said slot and having a portion which is capable of entering said slot from said opening, and means for locking said connector in said slot.

6. In a chiming mechanism, in combination, a hammer provided with an opening, an actuator for said hammer, a non-stretchable connector between said hammer and said actuator and extended through the opening in said hammer and detachably secured to the said actuator, and means co-operating with the hammer for securing said connector in fixed relation to said hammer.

7. In a chiming mechanism, in combination, a hammer provided with an opening, an actuator for said hammer, a link chain having one end detachably secured to said actuator and its other end extended through the opening in said hammer and adjustably connected with the latter, and means for locking said chain in its adjusted position with relation to said hammer and against movement through said opening.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

WALTER H. DURFEE. 

